Waste framework targets £85m savings for councils

A framework to help local authority waste departments generate collective cost savings of up to £85 million has been developed.

The UK's first waste services management framework will be available for councils in London, the south east, south west and west Midlands - over 100 authorities in total.

It aims to help them achieve efficiency savings in the procurement process as well as deliver reduced service costs. It will run for four years from April 2012.

The framework was jointly developed by Improvement & Efficiency South East (iESE) and the London Waste & Recycling Board (LWARB).

While it is mainly targeted at those councils looking to procure, it will also be beneficial in terms of outsourcing services and partnership working. The framework has been built to allow councils the opportunity to purchase services from multi-national, SMEs and third sector providers.

iESE and LWARB will procure and evaluate the framework through Tandridge District Council on behalf of all participating local authorities.

iESE chairman, Paul Bettison, said: "The framework will enable public services to move away from the traditional models of delivery and implement new, improved, efficient and creative ways of meeting the needs of the people they serve within the resources they've got."

LWARB chair, James Cleverly, added: ''An estimated £220 million is spent each year on waste collection in the capital. Not only can the framework help bring these costs down through joint procurement, it also supports the work LWARB is doing to promote efficiencies in the waste sector."

The specification for the framework contract will be developed with those authorities that would be potentially using the framework first, along with various partners including the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and Keep Britain Tidy.

The final specification will be available when Defra's Waste Review is published in the coming weeks.